My latest old Nikon

Last time I saw one of those was in the 1990s and it looked like it was used as a hammer.
 
Beautiful camera...my F3 was the last of the "F" bodies in my line-up...minus the F6 I have them all...
It needs to get out more...

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For a long time I only had the odd numbered ones (F, F3, and later an F5), but then I found an F2. Not sure about continuing to 4 and 6 though.
 
That ain't old -:). I had an F3 back in the day (pre-digital) and shot the snot out of it. Finally needed service and I sent it away and started using another Nikon body. When it came back it ended up setting on a shelf and after about a year I sold it. Miss that camera. The only time it let me down was when I hiked to the bottom of the Yellowstone Falls in Yellowstone NP. Strenuous hike down sharp decline and the batteries died. Had to use the 1/60th shutter speed and guess at the exposure but the picture came out great.
 
It never ceases to amaze me that this camera spanned nearly 4 decades in the Nikon catalogue. You could buy it brand new in 1980, or 2001.
 
My 1983 F3AF is still going strong. I picked up two ~2001, one just below 2M and the other just above 2M. The F3AF just kept on going, so the 2M+ body is still in the box.
 
Sometime in the 1980’s I read Jason Schneider’s Camera Collecting volume 3. In it there was a chapter on “instant classics” and the F3/T was one of the cameras in that group. Since I happened to have $3500 in cash from a failed car purchase, that very day I walked over to Camera World of Oregon and spent part of that money on a new F3/T and 50/1.4 Nikkor.

I’ve now got a black F3/T and champagne F3/T, but that was my first ever Nikon.
 
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